Hokkaido Dairy Farm Milk Restaurant - Egg sandvo - Thick but bland

I went to Hokkaido Dairy Farm at Causeway Bay as they are also famous for their 3 inch thick egg sandwich.





The thickness is surely impressive but I don't think there's much egg taste nor enough seasoning. To be fair, the style is different from Aus Dairy Co. - this is more omelette style rather than the more scrambled style.

Damage = $20 per serve.

Verdict = still a few miles from the ones at Aus Diary Co. - I can confidently verify this with my visit to ADC again this morning :)

Australia Dairy Co. - The perfect egg sandwich

Fluffy (crustless) white bread like a pillow + silky smooth scrambled eggs. The two combine to melt in my mouth as my fingers try not to squash the delicately soft sandwich.






A "must eat" for me every time I go to Hong Kong... no exception this time.

And I am still AMAZED at how good this egg sandwich is, even after so many visits over the past 10 years and knowing what it should taste like!

THANK YOU AUSTRALIA DAIRY!!! A very rewarding and well spent $13HKD ($1.9AUD) if you ask me.

p.s. Although the cafe is named "Australia Dairy". It doesn't have Australian milk... actually.. there's nothing Australian about the whole eatery.

Virgin Atlantic - Premium Economy... still very economy

Using my AMEX reward points reserve, we redeemed tix to Hong Kong on Virgin Atlantic's Premium Economy.

Seat - it's OK, a bit more room than Economy, but still miles behind Upper Class.




Food - Crap.... even by Economy standard.

Chicken had a terrible "frozen smell" to it. Average choc mousse cake.

Service - Good.

Ultimate chocolate chip cookies (recipe by David Leite)

I first came across this recipe by David Leite on Chez Pim's blog, and then read numerous rave reviews about this recipe. Finally, after drooling over this every time I re-read the recipes/reviews, I put this into real action this week.

The things that set this recipe from the rest:
* good quality dark couverture (french for "cover") chocolate - they melt better in the baking process.
* large pellet/button/feves - whatever you want to call those shapes
* sea salt - this no doubt lifts the dimension of flavours
* RESTING the dough for 24-36 hours - just like all good steaks and wine, resting does make a difference according to Leite.

Notes about the recipe:
* the units are american units, so need to convert to metrics
* I decreased sugar contents because the recipe is written for Americans!! Dropped white sugar from 227g to 120g. Dropped brown sugar from 283g to 200g. I think it turned out fine. Can't imagine how sweet it would be if I followed the recipe.
* I am too lazy to find cake/break flour, so I just used homebrand plain flour.
* As for chocolate, I used Lindt piccoli bittersweet (58% cocoa) buttons.

Photos of the baking and end result:





The result is a cookie that is crunchy on the outer ring, soft and fluffy in the middle. The choc discs melt and become stratas of oozing chocolate. The ooziness (word??) is still there after the cookie is cooled :)





You can read more about Leite's 6 month research on making the ultimate cookie here.

Quay - 4/11/09

It’s a million dollar view as we sat down in a circular dining area surrounded by ceiling to floor glass windows, overlooking the bridge, harbour and opera house.

There were 2 dining options – 7-course degust or 4-course a la carte. We opted for the a la carte because there’s no chocolate dessert on the degust menu :P

Amuse bouche of tuna, tapioca, creme fraiche:


Course 1 – we all chose the sea pearls: Sashimi tuna, aquaculture caviar, sea scallop, smoked eel, octopus, mud crab, abalone



Blue fin tuna was naturally sweet and mellow. Loved the octopus which was mixed with tiny droplets of egg whites. How did they make them? Abalone slice was surrounded by solidified broth. Scallop was intense and sweet. Excellent dish to start with. It tasted as good as it looks.

The Sommelier recommended a glass of Semillon (2002 Falls Wines from Canowindra NSW). Compliments my courses 1 and 2 nicely.

Course 2

Mr Chan’s - Five textures of Southern rock lobster.



Ok... you can’t see any lobster here! But it has been converted into infused tofu, tapioca cake, steamed lobster slices, rich consommé, custard. The tofu/tapioca/slices was combined with a light creamy emulsion with a hint of lemon zest. The rich consommé and custard was an explosion of flavour despite the clearness of the broth.

Both Mrs Chans’ - Crisp confit of pig belly, braise of abalone and cuttlefish, handmade silken tofu, Japanese mushrooms, chive flowers



Skin was crisp as advertised and combined well with the abalone/cuttlefish/tofu/mushrooms. If I have to be ultra picky, the texture of the pork could have been a bit more supple. Dixon, your roast pork is hard to beat!

Course 3

Mr Chan’s - Braised black pig jowl, smoked eggplant, baby kabu turnips, Chinese artichokes, spinach, wasabi flowers, konbu consommé.


The jowl was literally “melting in my mouth”. The meat/soft bone was cooked for a long time and there was good marbling on the meaty bits. The smokiness of the eggplant gave the broth some kick. This dish was light and rich at the same time!

Mrs Chan junior’s - Bass Groper, parsley crust, slow braise of baby abalone, periwinkles, sea scallop, winter melon, hasuimo, green tea and seaweed consommé


Mrs Chan senior’s - 24 hour slow cooked milk fed Suffolk lamb, sheep’s milk fromage, heirloom baby carrots, Arbequina olives, capers, nasturtiums and rosemary flowers


Very tender and flavourful.

Course 4

Mr Chan’s - Eight texture chocolate cake featuring Amedei 'Chuao' Chocolate


Mrs Chan told me beforehand that Amedei is world’s best chocolate, better than Valrhona. And YES! it’s the best chocolate dessert I’ve eaten to date. The final (8th) texture was served at the table as the waiter poured a dollop of ganach onto the dessert. The warm ganach melted the dessert and created a hole in the middle. I scraped the dish clean and I was in chocolate heaven.

Mrs Chan junior’s Raspberries, violet, almond, vanilla cream.


Very very beautiful presentation and Mrs Chan loves it.

Mrs Chan senior’s Pistachios, rose, watermelon, vanilla.


Wow... the rose ice cream was SOOOO unique. Very strong yet very refreshing rose aromas.

Mr Chan’s ratings:

Food – 9.5/10 – Course 1 was beautiful. Course 2 was interesting and innovative. Course 3 was uniquely tasty. Course 4 was heavenly.

Ambience – 9.5/10 – you can’t get a better view. World class.

Service – 8/10 – Not too bad overall. One good waiter. Sommelier was a little arrogant. 2 waiters were mumbling/insensitive.

Value – 7/10 – The 4-course is $155, but there were “supplements” (of $20 per dish) for the sea pearls and lobster.... their degust has risen twice this year, now standing at $210! So Tetsuya’s now the “better value” option.

Overall – 9/10 - a lovely gastronomic evening with Mrs Chan X 2. This experience is neck and neck with Tetsuya’s. Different food styles. Perhaps Tetsuya’s has an edge in precision and execution, but it’s unfair to say Quay is any worse. Quay finished the meal with top notch stunning desserts, whereas Tetsuya’s degustation showed off extremely intricate cooking techniques. The view at Quay does have a big impact. Service is definitely better and more professional at Tetsuya’s. Both bloody expensive dining venues!

Photos courtesy of Mrs Chan's 450D.

Tetsuya's - 17/3/09

Wrote this a while ago (March 2009)... thought I'd post it here for comparison...

Tetsuya's.... finally

After years of contemplating a visit to Tetsuya's, we finally "bite the bullet" to celebrate our anniversary on 17th March 2009.

With so much expectation going into this, it was a dinner waiting to be disappointed. But i am very glad to say that the meal lived up to our expectation, but we feel that we don't need to revisit this premiere restaurant in Australia.

Service – 9/10

Most waiters were fantastic, but some looked a little arrogant and some looked rushed

Food - 9-9.5/10

• All (12) dishes were tasty as you’d expect and a handful of them had the surprise factor.

• We ordered 2 extra oysters (Coffin Bay) each with their rice wine vinegar dressing. Very nice, but a similar effect can be achieved by buying fresh oysters yourself, then buy the pre-packaged Tetsuya’s oyster vinargarette dressing.

• The appetiser of sweet corn cold soup with vanilla ice cream was interesting and nice.

• The outstanding dish was the signature dish - trout confit. I wouldn't mind eating that dish again! The spice and herbs blended magically with the oily flavours of the trout.

• The deboned spatchcock was also amazing. It was stuffed with some foie gros. It had some capers in it. Blended so well with the red wine jus.

• The Wagyu was nice, but not overly spectacular.
  

• The wine pairing degustation was well worth it. We bought 1 serve and split into 2 halves. The sake worked well with the steamed egg custard. The pinor noir was amazing by itself and worked wonderfully with the spatchcock. There was a total of about 9 wines through the evening.

Ambience and decor – 6/10

It doesn't look like a "top restaurant" decor. Plus no views, only a jap garden outlook. chairs not that comfy. tables were quite close together.

Value – 8/10

They have "customer parking"... then we realised (after the meal) it was VALET parking @ $20. oh well. Not that $20 is unreasonable for such a restaurant, but i felt "conned".

Overall – 9/10

Assiette - degustation 29/9/09

Came here with sis and Mrs Chan based on SMH's review and the fact that they have just upped from one to two chef hats. Eatability also gave pretty good reviews.

Course 1 - Oyster with vietnamese dressing and fried onion.


Course 2 - Seared tuna, basil puree, pork crackling, smoked eel. Wonderful execution but we were wondering the (lack of) connection of the bits and pieces on this plate.


Course 3 - Beetroot and goat curd. This is surprisingly good as the saltiness of the curd balances with the sweetness of the beetroot. Nice!!


Course 4 - Cured wagyu, white asparagus, truffle mayonnaise, artichoke, fried quail egg, eschallot. Wonderful!


Course 5 - Terrine of rabbit, carrot puree.


Course 6 - Crispy barramundi, bouillabaise vinaigrette, chorizo, chickpeas, mussels. Very provence, well done.


Course 7a - Mrs Chan's quail with corn puree.


Course 7b - my lamb .... some of the best lamb cutlets i've eaten - very tender, flavourful and well seasoned. One of the best tonight!


Course 8 - cheese

Course 9 - pre-dessert - apple jelly with apple granita and vanilla

Course 10 - Strawberry cheesecake - as Matt Preston would say... this is "very pedestrian". A little let down after the wonderful previous courses.


Mr Chan's ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
OK.. this is no Tetsuya's, but it had good presentation, it was well-balanced, with interesting taste combos. Would have been 9 if they aced the dessert.

Ambience - 6/10
Quite noisy with unclassy background music. Tables a little close together. Oh... very uncomfortable armless, unpadded chair!

Service - 7/10
Adequate

Value - 8.5/10
At $95 for 10-course degustation in this 2-hatted restaurant, I think this is pretty good value.

Would I recommend this restaurant? YES!